New Bangkok megamall EmSphere opens with IKEA, dining

[misskit]

BANGKOK -- Thai retailer The Mall Group opened its latest shopping center here Friday in a bid to create a new destination for tourists and shoppers in Thailand's capital.


EmSphere, in the vibrant Sukhumvit dining and entertainment district, is a six-story attraction spanning 200,000 square meters with more than 300 tenants, including IKEA and restaurants.


The mall with a direct walkway from the Phrom Phong BTS Skytrain station was packed with visitors on its first day.


"The dining area has a lot more going on than other malls, so it's fun to just walk around here," said a 30-year-old local.


The anchor tenant occupying one entire floor is IKEA, offering about 8,200 products from bedding to couches.


That is about 20% fewer items than at the Swedish furniture retailer's larger store in a Bangkok suburb. But the new location is the company's first city center store in Southeast Asia and features showrooms geared for urban apartments in nearby high-rise buildings. It also offers items exclusively available there.


EmSphere is in the EM District, a huge commercial development run by The Mall Group that also includes the group's high-end Emporium and EmQuartier shopping centers.


Thailand is still seeking to make a full recovery from a tourism slump during the COVID-19 pandemic. The country welcomed around 22 million foreign travelers from January to October this year -- only a little more than 60% of the level seen during the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports reports.

New Bangkok megamall EmSphere opens with IKEA, dining -
Nikkei Asia

[Seekingasylum]

The Emquartier Mall is invariably half empty and I don’t think I have ever seen anyone buy anything from their pretentious hiso brand named outlets. Typically, the only outlets to feature crowds are where Thai can stuff their faces.

So, the Emsphere is indeed a valuable addition to the cultural desert that is modern Thailand.

Still, somewhere to go I suppose in the hot sweaty season for the aircon and to kill time before the first drink of the day.

The sheer number of redundant store staff hanging around picking their noses and squeezing zits in that square mile must be astronomical.

[Edmond]

The anchor tenant

Thought that was gonna be Tomcat, for a sec.